Filming of "Public Enemies"

Johnny and Marion filming their "Hotel Congress" scene. Please forgive the shaky camera!

Heeeeere's Johnny!

VIDEO COMING SOON!! SEE SLIDESHOW TO THE RIGHT FOR MORE PHOTOS

I was hoping for Christian Bale, but I guess Johnny Depp will do in a pinch.

Bob and I spent yesterday in Beaver Dam, Wis. on the film set of "Public Enemies," a movie about John Dillinger (played by Depp) and Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), the FBI agent who led the manhunt against him. The movie also stars Marion Cotillard, who won the Acadamy Award for best actress this year. It's supposed to be released next summer.

Sadly, Bale has proven far too elusive. But Depp sightings have been rampant, so we decided to take a chance and drive to Columbus for the day, where filming was supposed to take place Tuesday afternoon. We left at 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Columbus around 1 p.m. Parts of downtown have been converted for the movie, so many of the store fronts look like they're right out of the 1930s. They even covered the street with a carpet of foam cobblestones that look like the real thing.

When we got to Columbus we found out filming there was delayed and they were actually filming in Beaver Dam about 15 miles away. They were filming a scene outside of downtown's Hotel Rogers, which had been converted to Hotel Congress in Arizona for the day, complete with cacti. We watched the filming from about half a block away. It took hours to set the scene up, so Johnny didn't appear until about 4:30 p.m. He filmed take after take of the scene, which involved driving a vintage car up to the front of the hotel, getting out, and escorting Cotillard into the hotel (we'll post the video soon). He waved to the spectators a few times, inspiring ear-piercing screams from fans.

At about 6:30 p.m. they moved filming inside the hotel, so we reluctantly headed back home, with stars in our eyes. It was so cool being there, and so hard to come back down to earth today and actually work! That was supposedly their last day of shooting in Wisconsin, but if they do come back, we've decided we're taking off of work and going back to 'Sconi.

Bangkok … or Des Moines? Tough call

Our "Where should we go next?" poll has officially closed, and what we've learned is that: 1. It's a toss up between Southeast Asia and Iowa; and 2. We clearly need new friends and/or family members.

So I guess it's up to us to decide: Would we rather visit the temples of Thailand or the Giant Pitchfork of Ames? The beaches of Phuket or the Matchstick Marvels of Gladbrook?

Hmmm … stay tuned!